Cons:

While the PC audience has been frothing at the mouth for the next chapter in the Half-Life 2 saga, it's safe to say that many console gamers are wondering what they're on about. The Xbox port of Half-Life 2 won GameSpy's Xbox Game of the Year in 2005, but the poor emulation on Xbox 360 has kept many next-gen console owners waiting for The Orange Box to experience the Half-Life 2 saga, let alone the new additions of Portal and Team Fortress 2. It's a gross understatement to say that it's been worth the wait. Now, Xbox 360 owners can gorge themselves on what should amount to nearly 20 or so hours of the most finely-crafted single player action they'll see this year, and countless hours of multiplayer.

Long Live the Free Man!

The first section of The Orange Box focuses on Half-Life 2. HL 2 has seen a major visual facelift since the Xbox version, with greater detail and various updates for HD-generation consoles. The game runs at resolutions up to 1080p and offers a variety of options for whatever your setup may be, including adjustments for gamers who use a PC monitor. While the frame rate isn't necessarily as high as what you'd see on a state-of-the-art PC, most of the time it runs at a fairly smooth 30 frames per second. You'll only see some chugs at certain points, such as during large chain explosions with equally large numbers of characters onscreen.

Without giving away too many spoilers, you'll be taking on the role of scientist Gordon Freeman, who awakens a few decades after the first game's events and finds himself in City 17, a totalitarian urban center run by Dr. Breen, humanity's puppet leader. The real leaders are the Combine, an alien race that has subdued humanity and plundered the Earth. Gordon is immediately welcomed to the resistance effort by other scientists, including Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Eli Vance. Eli's daughter Alyx accompanies you off and on throughout your adventures, and also harbors a crush on Gordon. The action will extend beyond the first game's ending with Episode One, in which you and Alyx will fight to escape City 17. In Episode Two, you'll find yourselves on the outskirts of the city, with a crucial mission on your hands.

The controls are extremely adjustable. Some will find the default look/move mechanics to be a bit slow, but a slider allows for three times the sensitivity. The default controls feel well-mapped to the 360 controller. Your right trigger will serve as your primary attack. The left trigger is the secondary attack. You'll jump with A, reload with B, and use X as your context-sensitive button for using objects or picking them up. Left bumper will let you sprint, which Gordon will need fairly often, but not enough for it to be an ergonomic nuisance. Right bumper allows you to switch weapons. Pretty standard stuff, but well-implemented nonetheless.

It's really within the gameplay and narrative that the Half-Life 2 package in The Orange Box shines. While you'll never feel completely confident that you know everything going on within the storyline, Valve's approach to both narrative and design is quite unique. At times, you'll be presented with a puzzle, and while it might seem a tad confusing, things always seem to fall together after a minute or so of searching. It's a refreshing change from the copy/paste level design of some other shooters, and it helps this series stand out. The narrative itself, while not always lucid, is always compelling, and you'll find that the battles, from the Combine Citadel in the first game, to claustrophobic shootouts in a dark garage in the first episode, to the grand finale of the latest episode, will leave you both exhilarated and in search of compatriots who've shared the same experiences.